Variety (November 1918)

12 LEGITIMATE t-it: \' EQUITY'S STANDARD CONTRACT BECOMES EFFECT IVE NOV. 11 Members of the A. E. A. Pledge Themselves to Back Up Policy and Pledge Previously Agreed Upon. Big Penalty for Non-Si^port. Equity's Open Meeting. The Actors' Equity Association has sent out notice to its members that the policy and pledge regarding the sole use of A. £. A. contracts will be- come effective Nov. 11, as agreed upon last spring. The pledge is that all As- sociation members must use one of the three forms—that of the U. M. P. A.- A. E. A. Standard, "run of the play" "contract for the season" form and either one of such forms must be de- manded and obtained at least one week after rehearsals have begun (although the pledge does not apply to try-outs, stock or picture work). Any member who has signed the pledge and does not comply is sub- ject to a fine of $1,000 and allows him- self open to injunction. Should any member be called upon to pay sucn fine, he would not escape the liability of the injunction proceeding. About 1,200 members of the A. E. A. have signed the pledge, the total mem- bership of the organization being 3,500. Equity officials state all members are subject to the pledge, since they af- firmed when becoming members to abide by the policy laid down by the association. The notice sent out states that: "Any member who works beyond the first week of rehearsals without having secured a U. M. P. A.-A. E. A. contract and that only, shall be sub- ject to immediate expulsion, and fur- thermore, at the discretion of the council A. E. A. members may be re- quired not to act with such offender." There was some surprise that the As- sociation would go so far as to threaten expulsion of its members who did not adhere to the pledge, since but one-third of the A. E. A. membership had actually signed the pledge. A general meeting to which every- one is. invited has been called for ses- sion at the Hotel Astor for next Mon- day "to publicly ratify the put- ting into operation and force of the •policy' and 'pledge.'" The "Herald," announcing the meeting, states the speakers will be Francis Wilson. Pat- rick Francis Murphy and Wilton Lackaye, the latter being scheduled to "dissect and analyze a Shubert con- tract" Principally those not' issuing the standard form are the Shuberts and several allied producing firms. In order that he may have an opportunity to defend his contract Lee Shubert has been invited to occupy a seat on the platform. The A. E. A. announces that the fol- lowing managers are issuing the re- quired contracts: Klaw & Erlanger, H. W. Savage, George Tyler, David Be- lasco, Richard Walton Tully, Andej- Bon & Weber, Oliver Morosco, the Selwyns, John D. Williams, Cohan & Harris, Charles D. Coburn, Smith & Golden, Frederick McKay, William Harris, Jr., Henry B. Harris Estate, Charles Frohman, Daniel Frohman, Harrison Grej: Fiske, Wm. M. Patch, Charles Hopkins, A. H. Woods, Win- throp Ames. Stuart Walker, John Cort and Henry Miller. Also all the Chicago .groducers.^, . _...-,_;..• Some important "topfcs are slated to ' come up for general discussion at a special meetmg of the players in the Hotel Astor, Nov. 11, at 2 p. m"., which will be conducted under the auspices of the Astors' Equity Association. TheJEjuity has extended all mera- bers of the profession an invitation to attend, whether they belong to the association or not. Owing to. the election Tuesday the regular council meeting of the Equity was held Monday aftA-noon instead. The epidemic layoff came up for dis- cussion, as well as other matters re- sultant from present conditions here and abroad. BUSINESS PICKING Ul^. The theatre ticket agencies in New York report that business has been picking up this week. Saturday night, accordmg to the hotel men, was the nearest that New York has been to one of the regular Saturday nights since the influenza ,scare. 'Monday night (election eve) was another big night and the Tuesday matinees were . reported as fair all over town, with election night a sell out. Last Sunday night all of the houses giving concerts in the Broadway section were sold out. This week there are eight buys run- ning, the Astor with "Little Simplicity" and the Globe with "The Canary" be- ing added. The buyout for "The ■ Canary" was settled on Wednesday afternoon when the agency men got together with the house management. The other buys are the Cohan and Harris, Eltinge, Gaiety, Hudson, Lib- erty and Lyric. The Lyric and Eltinge buys run out this week and will not be renewed. One. of the largest agency men stated Wednesday that in the event of A. H. Woods insisting that the hotels buy for the Eltinge in order to get seats for "Friendly Enemies" at the Hudson, that the agencies would re- fuse to take the "Under Orders" seats even though they lost the big sale on the Hudson. V CAPT. LIGON JOHNSON. Ligon Johnson, regarded as inval- uable in the post of secretary of .the United Managers' Protective Associa- tion, has been appointed a captain judge advocate in the army and will leave at the end of the week for a Coast cantonment where he has been assigned. Pretensions toward peace caused a moment of indecision on Mr. - Johnson's part, ^t since he had ap- plied for the commission he deter- mined to accept. It is not certain Captain Johnson's position with the U. M. P. A. will be filled in his absence, since he intends occupying special quarters on the -Coast that he may keep in 4ouch with theatrical conditions as much as pos- sible and be in constant communication with his office here. His commission has much to do with allotments, war insurance and domestic relations of the men, his legal training standing him in good stead for such a post. Shouid peace come, it is Mr. Johnson's intention to resign the commission, even though the cantonments will be retained. TIMES SQUARE RESTORED. ..Time? Square again looks like civ- itizatibhaftefseveral years 6f dodging structural protectors and walking over mud. The paving has been restored and the theatrical managers of the neigh- borhood believe the main street looks nice enough to hold a carnival on it. ; MUSICAL UNION MATTER. No cliaiims of drastic action by the musicians as a result of the recent lay- o£F and the demand by the heads of the American Federation of Music that the men be paid $50 for the second week and full salary for the remaining weeks of the layoff time have been received by the managers, and the musicians assert there have been no new de- velopments since President Weber's letter was sent out. At the New York offices 6f the A. F. of M., Representative Thomas Gamble says the federation stands ready to bring back to New York any member whose management refuses to take care of him accordingly, the federation paying the railroad fare to home town of the member requesting the atten- tion. There will be no trouble as far as Representative Gamble can see, with yet a single complaint to be received regarding the non-payment of salary during the layoff period. Burlesque companies will be expected to take care of their musical directors if they wish to retain their services, and the same runs true of any- of the companies, the A. F. of M. men say. All of the big film interests haying out traveling outfits carrying musicians have complied with Weber's request. The "Hearts of the World" outfitsf. carrying full orchestras and a musical director, were paid according to the "$30 dollar a week" plan, and are en- abled to take up whatever immediate playing time is open without any clashes with the musical unions en route. IN JANE COWL'S NEW PLAT. Georges Plateau, Alan Dinehart and Christine Norman, three of the four main principals in the Selwyns* "The Crowded Hour," now running in Chicago, will leave the cast there to rehearse here with Jane Cowl, who will appear in the New York company, re- ported soon to succeed "Information Please" at the Selwyn Theatre. This leaves Wilette Kefshaw, who heads the Chicago company, to be supplied with new support. "The Crowded Hour" opened in Chi- cago several weeks ago, playing one night and stopping because of the in- fluenza epidemic. It received excellent notices and is now continuing to good business. The piece is akin to A. H. Woods' "The Big Chance," and the company of the latter play was. orig- inally planned to invade Chicago be- fore the Selwyns play was ready. The latter, however, beat "The Big Chance" to it,'the Woods second company be- ing held back because of a doubt as to how Broadway would accept the play. SHOWS IN FRISCO. San Francisco, Nov. 6. "You're in Love," due at the Cort next week, returned east before reaching San Francisco. "Business Before Pleasure" is remaining here be- yond schedule time and will be the attraction when the quarantine is lifted. At the Columbia preparations are being made to resume with "The Very Idea," with William H. Crane as the star. "Common Cause," the attraction at the Columbia before the closing order and scheduled to play other ^Pacific Coast cities, has temporarily dis- banded. The new Alcazar company finished rehearsals of "Upstairs and Down" and }3.w*iting for.the.:«bnK,v: SHOWS IN CHICAGO. Chicago, Nov;"6.■■• The reopening performances got a slow start because of regulations re- quiring ten o'clock closing, and no one did much until Saturday, when the lid had been raised to 10:30. Beginning Sunday, all restrictions were removed and now it's "business as usual." "The Crowded Hour" is the raging hit of the town,, doing $2,000 a per- formance. Laurette Taylor's first starring engagement here was delayed until Saturday for initial showing, and then failed to deliver any extraor- dinary interest. The"^ .brokers say the call for this attractioh is below expec- tations. This may be due to her play- ing "Happiness, reported not her strongest vehicle. Fred Stone, who was cut off in the prime of a capacity run, did not "come back" with any- thing like that kind of patronage. "Lombardi, Ltd.," had a fair advance and started right off to nice takings. William Hodge, whose long and steady run in "A Cure for Curables," which gets little comment among the wise ones, but seems to draw the shek- els from the commoners, is at it again and doing profitably. "The Little Brother" opened lamely and showed not very encouraging progress in the next few performances, though the gross keeps rising. "A Tailor Made Man" and "Three Faces East," the two Cohan & Harris successes, are getting heavy money. "Rock-a-Bye Baby" got milk-and-water notices, . and seems booked for a short stay and not a very merry one. "Oh Look" might as well have refrained from its ten-day return, though it is doing neat trade, but getting nowhere near what it closed to. The Playhouse opened with "The Rotters," well spoken of but with its future all yet to be made, as it got scant enthusiasm at the till from the barrier, "Flo-Flo" got off nicely and will do business if it doesn't stay too long. SHOWS IN PHILLY. Philadelphia, Nov. 6. The "Follies" is doing the business of the town, as was expected, and the show is being more generally praised than any "Follies" for the past three years. It has been standing room only at every performance since the show opened at the Forrest last Thursday night. Raymond Hitchcock in "Hitchy Koo" follows Nov. 11. Ethel Barrymore is doing very nicely .at the Broad and will be followed next week by F. Ziegfeld's new English play, "By Pigeon Post." for the first time in this country. Robert Hilliard in "A Prince There Was" opened to fair business at the Garrick. "Eyes of Youth" began its engage- ment at the Adelphi last Saturday night, being well received and opened to a big house Monday night. It is here for a run, there being no show underlined. "The Masquerader" closes its stay at the Lyric Saturday. Busi- ness has been very good. Lionel Barry- more in "The Copperhead," Nov. 11. This is the final week of "Leave It to Jane," which would have enjoyed a very successful engagement at the Chestnut Street Opera House, but for the epidemic. Business has fallen off since the reopening. "The Passing Show of 1918," Nov. 11. "Maytime" is doing fairly good business at the new Shubert. Nothing is underlined. MUSICALIZING FAILUf'.E. The Edward Clark failure, "Not With My Money," closing last Saturday, will probably be rewritten into^ a musical- version and reproduced. "^ SifOWS HLEOPENlNtr^^ "^ Gus Hill's Minstrels reopened in Norfolk Election Day. One of his "Mutt and Jeff" companies opened in Albany last Friday and the other Nov- ember 5 at Lebanon, Pa.